THREATS RISE FROM reservoirs, rivers

As sun finally returns, a devastated region tallies the damage

Shiann Barker holds her nephew, Brayln Matthews Sims Jr., 1, between cots at the George R. Brown Convention Center where nearly 10,000 people are taking shelter after Tropical Storm Harvey Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017 in Houston. They have ben at the shelter since Sunday after they evacuated from the Clayton Homes neighborhood. ( Michael Ciaglo / Houston Chronicle)

Water is released from the Barker Reservoir in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )

Water is released from the Barker Reservoir in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )

Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff

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Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Rick Johnson pauses to listen for people's voices as they search for people in a neighborhood inundated by water from the Addicks Reservoir, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, in Houston. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Rick Johnson pauses to listen for people's voices as they search for people in a neighborhood inundated by water from the Addicks Reservoir, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, in Houston.

Even as large parts of the city came back to life Wednesday, much of the Houston area remained in crisis as worsening conditions around a reservoir sent more water pouring into thousands of homes in west Harris County and rising river levels threatened thousands more to the south and east.

People who ventured out found shorter lines at gas stations, fresh milk on grocery store shelves and an Astros game planned for Saturday. But to the west of Houston, emergency crews struggled with overflowing dams, trying to stop water from pouring into homes and flooding Interstate 10 - one of the state's major arteries.

The northeastern suburb of Kingwood, a community with about 80,000 residents, resembled a river, with roiling currents and water covering street signs and submerged cars.

People begged rescue workers at a boat launch to check on elderly parents they hadn't heard from in days, and to save their pets.

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"We still have a long way to go," said Mayor Sylvester Turner, calling for the federal government to cut through red tape and get assistance to the tens of thousands of people displaced by the storm. "We're still in the midst of these challenges and they're immense."

The number of people known or believed to be dead in the Houston-Galveston area climbed to above 30 on Wednesday after rescue workers reached a van holding a family of six, including four children. In Fort Bend County, a Katy pastor and his wife died after driving into floodwaters midday Wednesday.

Houston police, who have helped rescue more than 3,000 people during the past few days, reported midday that they had found 27 of 47 missing people. Twenty remained unaccounted for.

"We're afraid we'll see a lot more of this as the waters recede," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Wednesday.

Harris County flood control officials reported that "nearly every watershed is experiencing devastating flooding." But many also have started dropping, offering some hope.

Much of the attention Wednesday turned to the towering Addicks and Barker reservoirs 17 miles west of Houston that reached records levels after Harvey dumped more than a trillion gallons of rainwater on the region.

For days, officials have intentionally released water from the reservoirs into Buffalo Bayou, which snakes through the heart of Houston, hoping to reduce the upstream flooding behind the dams, where an estimated 4,000 homes took on water.

The Addicks reservoir spilled water into its overflow on Wednesday as officials scrambled to build a barrier to keep the water from flooding Interstate 10. The Barker had yet to overflow as of late Wednesday.

David Miller said his house in the Wilchester subdivision, sandwiched between the Addicks reservoir and Buffalo Bayou, had not flooded since 2006.

"Not a drop," he said.

A few blocks west, Sherri Tefft, wearing wading boots, stood in the street watching water creep toward the front door of the house her father built in 1977. The home never previously flooded, she said.

"I understand they need to release water, but they need to plan it better," Tefft said.

Some smaller creeks and tributaries will keep rising, part of a natural adjustment officials believe will carry water from neighborhoods into the reservoirs, designed to protect the city from floodwaters.

People who live on the west side of the reservoir that have not yet flooded likely will not flood, said Jeff Lindner, the Harris County Flood Control District's meteorologist.

The situation is not as rosy on the other side of Buffalo Bayou, which officials said would not crest in some areas until Friday.

There was no estimate for how many homes along the Buffalo Bayou flooded because of the releases, though officials estimated it likely was in the thousands.

Officials also warily eyed the Brazos River in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties, and said mandatory evacuations for neighborhoods at risk would not be lifted until the river began to go down and road conditions improved.

"This is a dangerous situation at this moment," Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert said.

Beaumont and Port Arthur to the east of Houston were the next to be hit by Harvey, which moved on early Wednesday into Louisiana.

"Our whole city is underwater right now, but we are coming," Port Arthur Mayor Derrick Freeman posted on Facebook.

No good damage estimate

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett announced all but two mega-shelters would close around Houston so evacuees could be consolidated in the massive NRG Center - which can house 10,000 people - and the George R Brown Convention Center, which was at capacity.

Houston Housing Director Tom McCasland said late Wednesday the city would not be closing any shelters despite Emmett's announcement, marking a point of tension in city-county relief efforts after the storm

No one had a good damage estimate for the Houston metropolitan area, the fourth-largest in the nation. The number of homes in the region impacted ranged from 40,000 to 100,000, but officials said they were days away from having an accurate assessment of the devastation.

Local officials said they needed more help, and faster. They wanted the federal government to pay for recovery efforts, which do not yet have a price estimate.

"We need a whole lot of FEMA representatives now," Turner said at a news conference. "We need the red tape to be cleared."

Good news seemed to follow bad.

The airports reopened.

Looting was reported from Kingwood down to Dickinson, where officials had ordered mandatory evacuations.

The CEO of a chemical plant in Crosby admitted that there was no way to stop chemicals caught without the necessary coolant from catching fire or exploding. An area 1.5 miles around the Arkema plant was evacuated as officials waited for temps to rise, likely setting off the explosion.

Many hospitals were still hampered by flooding, but were taking critical patients.

And many people got a first look at their flooded homes.

David DeLeon maintained a stoic smile as an airboat whirred through the muddy waters in Kingwood, past flooded apartments and water-soaked homes, through a familiar landscape now made unrecognizable by natural disaster.

The head of Harris County Sheriff's reserve command bantered with his fellow officers, warned other rescue boats to slow down and swerve around sunken cars, kept a watchful eye out for looters and residents still stranded in abandoned neighborhoods.

He held the smile even as the boat circled toward an elegant two-story house encircled by eddying water reaching the middle of the first floor.

His house. The home he had not seen since Sunday when he first began rescuing people from Harvey.

His wife and 24-year-old disabled son had make it out safely, but everything had been left behind. There had been no time to pack, to shuttle valuables upstairs. No time even to grab his son's medications.

That was what he hoped to do now, on Wednesday morning, during a patrol of Kingwood's flooded streets.

Capt. Denise O'Leary, who normally works missing person, went in with him.

They emerged a few minutes later, dripping up to their belts and carrying two plastic garbage bags, two black carry-on suitcases, medications and a waterproof case - all DeLeon could salvage.

As the boat pushed away from the house, O'Leary put a consoling arm around her chief's shoulder. The two stood for a moment, the enormity of the loss washing over them.

Then DeLeon sat down, glanced out at the rushing water, and smiled hard enough to keep tears at bay.

"We gotta rebuild," he said later. "That's all we can do."

To laugh or cry?

Up and down Houston streets, in block after block, wet couches, bookcases, wood strips, paneling, carpets and mattresses decorated the sidewalks on both sides.

In Meyerland, at their home on Braeswood Boulevard, where a "never flooded" sign drew David and Susan Reeves and their daughters to the buyers' table in 2010, the couple consoled themselves with a happy, though sodden, discovery.